Multinationals are a fact of life: George Fernandes

Out of the Rs 125,000 crore that have been sunk into the economy since
1951 when the first Plan was launched, just under Rs 75,000 crore, or 60 per cent, has found its way into the public sector.

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india today digital

November 30, 1999

ISSUE DATE: October 1, 2012

UPDATED: September 29, 2012 15:16 IST

George Fernandes

How times change! A shift in the power structure and yesterday's firebrand ideologues turn overnight into down-to-earth realists. After the latest jaunt abroad-his fifth since he took over as industry minister-George Fernandes announced with a straight face that foreign companies and multinationals are a fact of life and cannot be wished away. It is now only a matter of time before Charan Singh, his strong-minded Gandhian Cabinet colleague, comes out in favour of heavy industry and the public sector, since both are facts of life and stride the Indian economic scene like a colossus. Out of the Rs 125,000 crore that have been sunk into the economy since 1951 when the first Plan was launched, just under Rs 75,000 crore, or 60 per cent, has found its way into the public sector. Of this vast sum, roughly Rs 15,000 crore has gone into building the industrial infrastructure which, along with the Rs 12,000 crore worth of investment in private sector industry, has turned India into the eighth largest industrial country of the world almost from scratch. It would call for a strong sense of self-denial on the part of any government-particularly an administration like the Janata which is still struggling to find its feet-to wish away Rs 15,000 crore worth of industry, even if the bulk strongly offended the "small is beautiful" instinct of the Gandhians in the ruling party.

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